Saturday, May 24, 2008

I dont know about you, but at times I need a break from my very loving family. I get grumpy. Simple. My family sure knows it. I dont get them very often, but my dear MIL will, when she can, take my DS 20 months, over to her place to 'sleep over'.

The only way I like to take a break is to sit at my kitchen table with every possible scrapbooking and card making tools within reach and create. My dream is to be able to leave it this way for at least a couple of days - especially when the creative bug has hit at the last minute and it can't be finished.

BUT my dearest and mischevious son who is only 20 months old loves to show his mummy how creative he can be. It usually starts by DS grabbing at every possible thing he can before I can get to it, then if it looks like I am even going to get anywhere close to him, the best thing he thinks to do is chuck it! Doesn't matter what it is, be it plate, glass, tool or book. If it smashes or makes that breaking sound........'oh ohhhh' is what comes out of his mouth.

Now......the other weekend I had the perfect opportunity to create to my hearts delight when my dear MIL took DS off to stay with her for two whole nights! I only had DD 4 months to look after who can't get into much at this stage...lol. The disappointing thing for me was ....... I had a creative block!!!!!! Arggghhhh! I tried and tried, but those juices were down.

I only managed to create 6 cards. I never make more than one of the same card. I just think that they are either too complicated to replicate, or I am not 'that sure' about the look so tend to think on it a while. Saying that, I did think they all turned out quite nice, but am still disappointed that I didn't manage to make more. Maybe I need to start replicating them....even if it is to make me feel better!

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog .

Well, I am new to this game, being such a virgin blogger of only one month I am going to be hard pressed to pass this on. Maybe my cousin can be my guinea pig? As most people reading this blog dont know me very well, I guess I can find 7 things......but interesting? I will leave you to judge :)

Anyways, on with the answers:

1. In September 2005, I was told by a Gynaecologist that I was unable to have any more children (already had Emma who was by then 13 nearly 14)

2. In September 2006, I gave birth natuarally to a 7lb 4oz baby boy who we named Connor.

3. In January 2008, I gave birth by caesarean to an 8lb 13oz baby girl who we named Abigail Rose

4. In January 2008, I got my tubes tied whilst having the caesarean! (I hear you laughing! I wasn't at the time believe me! lol. Never believe Gynaecologists!

5. I am extremely pedantic in my approach to anything - craft, cleaning, etc... It has to be perfect! Maybe that is why I have so much trouble creating (?)

6. I grew up in the country (West Coast of South Australia) from the age of 8 to 16. We lived in 6 different houses whilst in the country as my dad would change jobs due to different circumstances. We, at one stage, lived in a house that had an outside toilet; no working shower; we had baths), one room that we couldn't use as the middle of the floor had collapsed from being eaten out with white ants; and the kitchen sink water emptied into a bucket outside. Our only water supply came from two huge above ground rainwater tanks - we were very careful with water. We also had no television as there was no reception.Our phone was on a 'party line' exchange which meant that we shared the telephone line with other people and in order to make a phone call, you used to have to pick up the phone to see if it was silent, then wind the handle to contact the exchange whereby they would put you through to whoever you needed to talk to. the good thing about this was that if you wanted to talk to someone on the 'party line', all you had to do was use their ring ie. a short and two longs (that was ours) - this was achieved by winding the handle at the front of the phone.

7. I have lived in 21 houses in my lifetime. I have lived away from home since the age of 15, and started being completely independent by the age of 17. Since then, I have lived in 13 different houses. By the time my first daughter was 7 (she is now 16), she had lived in 7 houses.

Well, here's the part where I have to tag 7 people. Because most of who I know on these blogs have already been tagged, I will focus all of my attention on my cousin Michelle (Shell's Stuff) who I hope will take up the challenge. Her link is: http://shell07-shell07.blogspot.com/

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Hi all :)

On Kristina Werner's site (http://kwernerdesign.com/blog/) a while back was a tutorial for a card she made that involved weaving ribbon. She has these fabulous youtube videos once a week called 'make a card monday (MACM). I absolutely loved it and couldn't wait to try it out. The weaving worked out perfectly and I was happy with the result - especially using chocolate grosgrain ribbon as it gives it that 3 dimensional effect. The buttons on the side are from a pair of my daughters pants - they came with extra buttons just in case the others get lost (I have a whole stack of these). I tied the two buttons together with the cotton that also came with the buttons. I like the overall effect.

Now, after saying all of that, I do not like this card but the reason why i am showing it on my blog is to show you how the weave turned out. No matter what I chose to go with the 'embellishment' I had made, it just wasn't right, so will keep this aside until I can build up my supply of dp's (got to stop spending money on other products first!!!) and figure out what I should do. If you guys have any suggestions at all I would appreciate the help :)

Monday, May 12, 2008

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day to all you mothers out there. My lovely family made me pancakes and cards (DH decided to print his card out at 5.30am in the morning when I was feeding my youngest...lol) Apart from the lack of sleep that seems to be a part of my life nowadays, I had a good day. I received a huge bag of my favourite chocolates (Haighs chocolate orange pastilles...yum), and a book that my dear DH found at a newsagency called 'Stamping With Style'. It mainly deals with 'off the page' stamping styles such as using polymer clay, fabric and more. He knows how much i have been addicted to stamping lately (must be all those beautiful stamp sets from Stampin Up!) and is forever coming up with ideas on how else to use stamps. I am quite amazed with some of the suggestions he has come up with so far, espcially since he believes that he would rather gouge his eye out with a wooden spoon than to have anything to do with scrapping or card making. LOL.

Even my 16 yo daughter who firmly believes that anything to do with craft is 'gay', sat down at the kitchen table the night before, using all my tools and paper and made me a card. She did a fantastic job....... Now doesn't that say she loves me lots?

Anyway, on with the card I made:

This card uses one of my most favourite and most versatile stamp set I have in my growing collection of stamps. I bought it out of the mini catalogue SU! were having at the time (think it was the Summer catalogue?). I really wanted to use some of this chipboard that everyone seems to be raving about and that I can never seem to get to work (check out Crafty Cass site http://www.cassandragrambau.com.au/blog.htm for more information about how much you can do with chipboard).

I covered two pieces of square chipboard with cardstock and then sanded the edges to neaten it up, then stuck on my watercoloured flowers (stamped on watercolour paper). Using black cardstock as my card base, I matted it with Pretty in Pink (paper pierced the edges) and then matted that with Lovely Lilac. The Lovely Lilac is stamped with one of my little background stamps (dont know the name of it) using versamark ink. The 'Love' and 'heart' stamps are stamped onto watercolour paper and coloured in using the watercolour markers, then stuck on with dimensionals. The ribbon just gives it that added bit of bling. Let me know what you think as I would love to read your comments :)

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Just wanted to share this card with you. It is one of my favourites as it is one of those cards that just came together nicely without me getting too much of a headache...lol. It went to a good home :)

I am always having trouble decorating chipboard. I try painting, inking, glueing and even colouring in with markers, to no avail. It still looks, well, like a 2 year old did it! Painting chipboard is an absolute nightmare for me as it always looks streaked. I can never get right so if anyone has any hints at all, I would appreciate the tip!

Anyway, I digress.........For once, my decorating technique seemed to work so I used that as the inspiration for this card. All I did was to glue the cardstock to the chipboard using pva glue, then cut as much cardstock off around the heart using a craft knife, then using a nail file, I sanded the edges till it looked neat.

The bow around the heart is actually packing twine I bought from IKEA (gotta love 'em). I just unravelled it and used that instead of ribbon. I love the earthy feel of the 'ribbon'. The rest of the card is self explanatory :) Thanks for looking

Monday, May 5, 2008

Just an idea that was floating in my head one night. I have major trouble remembering all the different coloured cardstock I have - especially from SU! and thought, why not make a swatch of them? That way I can remember the names of them when I need to write down the card recipe. Great idea at the time, but didn't realise it was going to take me 2 whole hours to make - and that doesn't include the new colour range that SU! have just put out. I also like the fact that I can throw it into my handbag to take with me and match up elements whilst out 'window shopping' at scrapping and cheap stores. I have also (after taking this photo) stapled on ribbons that I have used that match the cardstock. I usually go to fabric stores for 'standard' ribbons as I find them quite cheap and I can pick them up straight away. Now on to that cardmaking I promised myself to do. I am planning on making Marelle Taylor's 'Mothers Day Wallet'. Yvonne designed a great one on her site which I want to try and emulate. Will take a picture when I have finished and post it on here.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

The kids and the partner are asleep right now so I get a moment to myself (I should be sleeping but this won.....)

I decided to experiment with the sizing of my cards (as you do) and wondered how I would go making 4 cards out of 1 piece of A4 cardstock - I dont like wastage and the more you can get out of one thing, the better right? Now for some reason, the second I started cutting, the rest just flowed which for me is not normal as (according to my partner) my 'perfectionist' side tends to interrupt my creativity so to speak.

I found that these kinds of cards tend to lean themselves towards 'using up' all your scrap pieces of patterned paper. I have tons of scrap pieces I just cannot throw out so had to buy myself an accordian folder to stick them all into. I had a lot of fun making this set so am thinking of making another set but also making a folder to stick them in with matching envelopes and giving them away as presents. What do you think?

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Hi one and all. This is a card I created using a computer, an embossing pen and some embossing powder.....

I had a small box of simple materials for card making (how times have changed!) but wanted to make a birthday card for my partner to show how much he had done for me over the past few years. It took me a while to come up with all the words (gave up on just using 'B' words) but ended up using the good ol' thesaurus to find the 'perfect' words for him. At the time, I also didn't realise that this card is called a 'gatefold' card. There you go!

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About Me

I simply love designing cards, tangling with zentangle patterns, stamping, and reading lots of books. I have 3 beautiful children whom I love above all things in this world, and a wonderful partner whom without, I would not be complete. This is my journey..